Apostles' Fast

The Apostles' fast is one among the five canonical fasts in the Orthodox Churches. The observation dates may vary from Church to Church. The Indian Orthodox Church observes 13 days of fast and the date is fixed from June 16^th to 29^th. Some other Syriac traditions observe the last three of these days as fasting days. For the Eastern Orthodox Churches the fast starts from the Monday after All Saints day (i.e. the eighth Sunday after Easter) and ends on June 29^th. According to one Church tradition the apostles would fast before going to different places from Jerusalem to preach the gospel, and this lent is in remembrance of their fasts. According to another Church tradition this fasting period is observed in remembrance of the twelve apostles and Paul. One significant point is that the fast is observed immediately after Pentecost and is directly related to the mission of the Church.

Aim of fasting

Observance for the sake of observance does not create any good for your inner self. Our observances, such as fasts and prayers, should be means of transformation of our person as a whole, a transformation from the old man to new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4: 22-24). The sublime expression of this transformation is love, and that includes even loving your enemies.

The whole Bible and all the teachings of true Christendom can be summarized in two points. One is what Jesus said to a Jewish teacher, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second is, "Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." (Mk. 12:30-31). One of our prayers says, "It is unworthy to observe fast without love". One who loves his brother loves his God. Iin his 1^st Epistle to the Corinthian's Ch. 13, St. Paul explains at length how love works.

Basil in his Homily On Holy Spirit says how to observe a fast:

"Beware of limiting the good of fasting to mere abstinence from meat. Real fasting is alienation from evil. 'Loose the bands of wickedness'. Forgive your neighbor the mischief he has done you. Forgive his trespass against you. Do not fast for 'strife and debate'. You do not devour flesh, but you devour your brother. You abstain from wine, but you indulge in outrages. You wait for evening before you take food, but you spend the day in law courts. Woe to those who are 'drunken, but not with wine'. Anger is the intoxication of the soul, and makes it out of its wits like wine."

Important Themes of the Apostles' Fast

The fast should help us to reform our inner self by the help of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us through Holy Baptism. The Holy Spirit will provide us with wisdom (the apostles who were poor fishermen turned into the most powerful teachers of the world), courage (before that they were fearful, and after they became courageous even unto death), the power to distinguish good from evil, and the strength to oppose evil.

We are to preach the gospel to the world just as the apostles did.

May this fast become a means for our repentance, edification and transformation to true disciples of Jesus Christ. May God bless us all.